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                 Lithuania Protests Russian Blockade at Border

   by Reuters

   The ex-Soviet republic of Lithuania accused Moscow on Monday of
   blocking its vehicles and goods at the Russian border, and summoned its
   ambassador to protest.

   "The drivers report that all traffic from Lithuania was blocked as of
   this morning," said Algimantas Kondrusevicius, president of the
   Lithuanian truckers' association Linava. "Our truck companies, our
   warehouses are already losing clients who are afraid of delays and
   trying to hire trucks from other countries."

   Trucking and logistics for trade with Russia are a crucial part of the
   European Union member's economy, and have largely survived Russian and
   EU tit-for-tat embargoes.

   Lithuania pledges to aid Ukraine

   However, ties have been strained. Lithuanian President Dalia
   Grybauskaite promised Monday to give Ukraine military aid to help in
   its fight against Russian-backed separatists, after last week branding
   Russia a "terrorist country" for refusing to identify troops operating
   in east Ukraine as Russian.

   Government authorities in this capital city said no
   Lithuanian-registered cars or trucks had been admitted into Russia's
   Kaliningrad region since the weekend.

   "I told the ambassador that Lithuania thinks the measures that the
   Russian officers are applying to Lithuanian-registered vehicles, to
   Lithuanian trucks, to goods produced or loaded in Lithuania ... are of
   a discriminatory nature," Andrius Krivas, Lithuania's vice minister of
   foreign affairs, told reporters. He said he asked the ambassador "to
   cease this discriminatory practice immediately."

   Russia's transport ministry declined to comment.

   A year ago, Russia briefly blocked Lithuania's trucks as Vilnius
   prepared to host the signing of a treaty between Ukraine and the EU.
   Ukraine's president at the time, Victor Yanukovich, ultimately refused
   to sign it, setting off the mass protests that led to his overthrow.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-lithuania-protests-russian-blocka
   ge-at-border/2532562.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-lithuania-protests-russian-blockage-at-border/2532562.html